Winter nights fell early. By four in the afternoon, it was already too late to keep moving.
The group huddled behind a boulder to escape the wind. Wrapped in the tiger-skin blanket, Zhang Yang curled up with a spare large drum magazine clutched in his left hand.
"Click, click."
Xie Yue and Yan sat nearby, watching Zhang Yang's hands with interest.
A slight surge of Soul Power flickered in Zhang Yang's right hand, and a metal part as long and thick as a finger appeared in his palm.
Then came a series of metallic clicks as Zhang Yang fed the metal pieces one by one into the black container in his hand.
Zhang Yang was loading the magazine.
After obtaining his first Soul Ring and unlocking the magazine attachment, Zhang Yang had been able to buy an unlimited number of drum magazine attachments from the shop.
With the large drum magazine, Zhang Yang's firepower had risen by several levels.
Then, in the system's inventory, Zhang Yang discovered the drum magazine's true use.
When he selected a drum magazine in the inventory, the system prompted him to choose whether to spend Soul Power to load it.
There was only one option: fill it up. As soon as Zhang Yang chose [Yes], the system would automatically use 50 points of his Soul Power to fill the magazine.
Then, once Zhang Yang entered the instance, he would find that his Soul Power bar had also dropped by 50 points.
So over the past two years, Zhang Yang's routine for entering an instance had changed a little.
First, he would put several large drum magazine attachments in his backpack, then spend Soul Power to fill them with bullets, using up most of his Soul Power before entering the instance.
Once he landed inside, he would down a blue potion to restore some Soul Power, pop a Painkiller, and inject Power of Nine Dragons to get his buffs going.
After all that preparation, Zhang Yang would inject himself with a dose that sped up Soul Power recovery.
The whole process took less than twenty seconds.
But what his enemies would face was Lord M14 with full Soul Power, Power of Nine Dragons active, the Painkiller still working, a loaded drum magazine, and four more stacks of spare magazines in his backpack.
Fat Reduction Department Poet.
Naturally, the drum magazine could also be brought into the real world.
However, whether it was already full of bullets or not, the moment Zhang Yang materialized it in the real world, it would be empty.
Zhang Yang had to spend Soul Power to materialize the bullets, then load them by hand, one at a time.
It was certainly a hassle, but it made the whole thing feel that much more ceremonial—and made things much easier in battle.
Once the magazine was full, Zhang Yang reattached it to the M14, then stored the weapon inside his body.
That was it. He was ready. When battle came, all he had to do was materialize it and pull the trigger.
Seeing Zhang Yang put away his Martial Soul, Yan curled his lip and discreetly turned his head away. Xie Yue, on the other hand, looked like a man watching an excavator finish work and climb onto a flatbed truck, still hungry for more.
After a moment's hesitation, Xie Yue tried striking up a conversation with Zhang Yang. "Zhang Yang, your Martial Soul... it's really peculiar."
"Is it? Thanks." Zhang Yang chuckled. "Yours is pretty special, too. Moon Blade—getting skilled with a weapon shaped like that can't be easy."
Xie Yue nodded, his eyes full of lingering dread at the memory of those grueling training days. "No, it really wasn't."
As Zhang Yang and Xie Yue awkwardly chatted, Yan pursed his lips in disdain. Up in the tree, Hu Liena's face showed a faint trace of sympathy.
Ever since his Martial Soul awakened as the Moon Blade, Xie Yue had trained tirelessly to master it as quickly as possible, practicing through the bitter cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer.
And that wasn't all. The Moon Blade's unusual shape made it easy to injure himself when swinging it. Even with a healing Soul Master on hand, the pain was all too real.
Just then, a faint commotion approached from a distance, quickly drawing everyone's attention.
"Hm? That's... a Soul Beast coming this way. Nana!" Xie Yue sprang to his feet and looked toward the sound.
"I can't see it. It's farther away."
Xie Yue frowned. "We can't just wait here. Up the tree, now."
Most Soul Beast battles took place on the ground. Climbing a tree could keep them from being hit by the shockwaves of a battle.
Besides, many Soul Beasts wouldn't think to look up into the trees at first. Some were built in a way that made it impossible for them to raise their heads at all.
Of course, climbing a tree came with risks, too.
"Hiss~"
A hundred-year Soul Beast in the form of a snake flicked its tongue, coldly staring at the human who had suddenly intruded on its territory.
"Whoosh!"
Xie Yue swung his Moon Blade. The snake was cut cleanly in two, its head dropping to the ground as its muscles continued to twitch.
Without using a single Soul Skill, he had killed a hundred-year snake Soul Beast in one blow through the sheer strength of his Martial Soul, reinforced by Soul Power.
Xie Yue certainly lived up to his role as the team's leader.
An ordinary Soul Elder couldn't match that kind of strength.
Soon, a flare of yellow light appeared in the distance. A thick tree snapped cleanly in half under a tremendous burst of energy.
"Bang!"
Like a ragged sack flung through the air, a four-meter-tall ape Soul Beast with an over-seven-meter wingspan and mud-caked fur slammed into the ground and rolled a long way.
Right after it, an enormous black-gray bear with sagging skin, multiple wounds, and scorch marks charged forward.
The bear was massive, yet incredibly fast. Its pounding strides made it seem as if the earth itself were trembling.
"Long-Armed Giant Ape, Rock Mountain Lord," Hu Liena quickly identified them. "Judging by their size, both are thousand-year Soul Beasts. The Long-Armed Giant Ape is a thousand years old, and the Rock Mountain Lord is about fifteen hundred."
"The Rock Mountain Lord is an earth-attribute Soul Beast. It's immensely strong, and its Soul Skill is powerful, too. Absorbing its Soul Ring would definitely grant a formidable Soul Skill."
Hearing this, Zhang Yang looked at Xie Yue, then Hu Liena, then Yan, and said helplessly, "Too bad the Rock Mountain Lord isn't a good match for any of our four Martial Souls."
Xie Yue nodded. "Its skin is sagging. I suspect it woke from hibernation hungry, came out of its cave to look for food, and then clashed with the Long-Armed Giant Ape."
"Maybe the Rock Mountain Lord wants to eat the ape," Zhang Yang suggested.
"Could be. The ape has already lost. Its death is only a matter of time. We'll soon find out whether the Mountain Lord wants to eat it."
As they spoke, Soul Power surged through the Rock Mountain Lord. It reared up on its hind legs, and earth-attribute Soul Power gathered around its forepaws until its enormous paws turned yellow.
"ROAR!!!"
Badly wounded, the Long-Armed Giant Ape still tried to make one last stand. It channeled Soul Power through its three-meter-long arms and thrust them toward the Rock Mountain Lord's fully exposed belly.
The belly was a weak spot for most creatures. Beneath the soft fur lay their most vulnerable organs.
This was an attack the enemy couldn't afford to ignore.
The group in the tree held their breath, waiting intently for the final moment.
But far away, where no one was looking, a two-meter-wide chunk of glowing red molten rock came flying from the direction the Soul Beasts had come from, trailing a beautiful streak of light as it sped toward them.
"Rip."
The Rock Mountain Lord's soft belly fur split open in a long gash, and blood sprayed out.
But that was all.
The Rock Mountain Lord had "Rock" in its name not only because it was an earth-attribute Soul Beast, but also because its bones were incredibly hard.
"Boom!"
Its ribs withstood the Long-Armed Giant Ape's thrusting arms. Then the Rock Mountain Lord brought its massive paws down with crushing force. The tremendous Soul Power shockwave struck like a star colliding with the earth, blasting a huge crater into the ground.
The ape's head, caught beneath those paws, was crushed. Bone fragments and blood sprayed everywhere.
"ROAR!!!"
After killing the Long-Armed Giant Ape, the Rock Mountain Lord threw back its head and roared in triumph.
But just then, the molten boulder that had flown in from afar struck the Rock Mountain Lord with blinding speed, cutting off its victory cry.
The molten boulder shattered on impact, spraying liquid-hot lava all over the Rock Mountain Lord. The entire battlefield filled with a pungent smell of sulfur.
The Rock Mountain Lord was sent flying by the boulder's tremendous impact. It quickly scrambled to its feet and brushed the lava off its body.
"ROAR!"
The Rock Mountain Lord lifted its head and roared, jaws gaping. The searing lava splashed across its body, making it even more furious.
But another molten boulder came flying from afar to meet its roar.
"Are there even stronger fighters here?"
Before you continue